The Long and Hungry Road

by Adrian Tchaikovsky

A Tyranids Short Story

The tyranids devour everything before them – consuming all life upon each world in their path. They are a threat to every sentient species in the galaxy, and their numbers are ever growing...

READ IT BECAUSE

It's a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the tyranid hive mind, as its invasion engages the human defenders of a doomed world.

THE STORY

To face a tyranid invasion is a waking nightmare. The skies darken with spores, your mind echoes with alien screeches, and countless weapon-organisms descend upon you with razor teeth and claws.

How much greater would your horror be, to realise that the hive ship above thinks nothing of your fate – that it crushes your resistance and devours your home on instinctual stimulus-response alone, seeking nothing more than the calories your world will yield? Witness a planet consumed, through the eyes of those who defend it – and through the blind, hungry gaze of its conquerors.

Written by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Genres: 40k, Short Stories, Science Fiction, Horror, Fantasy

34 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 4, 2023

About the author

ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY was born in Lincolnshire and studied zoology and psychology at Reading, before practising law in Leeds. He is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor and is trained in stage-fighting. His literary influences include Gene Wolfe, Mervyn Peake, China Miéville, Mary Gently, Steven Erikson, Naomi Novak, Scott Lynch and Alan Campbell.

Reviews

[cosmic_truthseeker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chilling insight into Tyranid horror

I'm a big fan of Tchaikovsky's writing style, and this short story delivers all the best parts of it. It achieves a balance between the otherworldly, alien motivations of the Tyranids and the relatable but hopeless efforts of the human characters.
Considering their singular purpose, Tchaikovsky writes the Tyranids well, exploring the interconnectedness of the Hivemind and what passes for "thought processes" as it leads an invasion of this unfortunate Imperium world.
Also, an effective exploration of Genestealer Cults that has educated this reader, who lacked some understanding that now feels mildly clearer.
The story moves fast, but that's not to its detriment. Despite the short length, there's enough characterisation to get invested.
If you like the Tyranids, this is a good read.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh wow! Tyranids is not exactly an easy faction to write, given they don't exactly talk or have individual minds, so we mostly see them through the eyes of others. I think Tchaikovsky did a great job here. We get glimpses of the hive mind as it closes into a planet ad we also see the humans as they realise what has come for them. It felt like an unusual story, extremely terrifying at point, and now I want to read more from this author.

[Jorge Rosas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh Wow!

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a huge or even small fan of Warhammer 40k, but my Steve is, so I've gained some knowledge of this setting through sheer osmosis over the last decade (by osmosis I do mean being excitedly talked at). Enough that I was totally comfortable dropping in to read this story, which I did because it's Tchaikovsky, and no other reason. And I thoroughly enjoyed it! It's a fun little snapshot of a planet being overrun by alien bug monsters and it totally works as just that, as well as (I assume) working as a Warhammer story.

[Andrew Alvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this AND it was my first taste of Mr. Tchaikovsky's Black Library contributions.

Pretty sure I've read a similar style short story about the fall of an Imperial World to Chaos but THIS was more detailed, an adventurous interpretation of the Tyranid mindset like nothing before...except maybe that one by Barrington J Bayley (IIRC Hive Fleet Horror) but I digress, if you love Tyranids and/or Adrian's work I wholeheartly recommend this!

[Albertix · Rating 3 out of 5]

“A thing like an armoured worm with hooked claws erupts out of the ground before Bartilam and impales him. It lifts him up, flailing and screaming. He has one more service to provide, as do his followers. Everything must be rendered down, soaked and softened, mashed and pureed. The fleet is descending, extruding a thousand hungry mouths. And loyalty and resistance, cult devotion or faith in the human Imperium, courage, cowardice, hopes and dreams, it all tastes the same when it’s biomass.”

[Vladimir Ivanov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Это не рассказ, а просто беллетризованный отчет о прибытии роевого флота на планету Империума.
Зачем это написано — хз.
Текст чисто для фанатов вахи, художественной ценности не несет.
Развязка ожидаемая, без сюрпризов.
Как в детском стишке, «Тираниды прилетели, всех съели, дальше полетели».
Ну и ладно.
Зато написано хорошо, красиво. Чайковски умеет.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first Warhammer story I’ve read. I liked the whole plot line about the religious fanatics that worshipped the tyranids. This was fine, but also I don’t really care about the tyranids that’s much. It’s cool to see just a short story that focuses on them destroying a planet, but there’s not more for me to like beyond that. Maybe I should read some nekron or space wolf stories.

[Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is it dark out or are there just 10000000000 bugs?

A great short story that truly encapsulates how the Tyranids operate. If you are curious about Tyranids at all this is a must read!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Tchaikovsky fan outside of the 40k universe, I think I overhyped this one, my first 40k Tchaikovsky. Ultimately, it did what it said on the tin, but there's nothing standout here except maybe a couple examples of imagery of Tyranid implacability.

[Urgewyrm · Rating 4 out of 5]

If beings didn't want to get devoured by Tyranids, they wouldn't be made of tasty biomass.


( I really liked this story but, to make your experience even better, read certain parts of it in the voice of Sir David Attenborough. It makes it even more entertaining. )

[Gareth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another short story to go along with Fall of Malvolion to read regularly I Think, another good view of a Tyranid invasion, this time with a bit of a Tyranid perspective as well, though still maintaining it's alienness. Great read.

[Lachlan Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great short story, best writing of Tyranids I've seen..really hope Adrian does more on the topic as he does an amazing job of showing the PoV of a being who's brain and sentience is very different to us.

[Paul Sparks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding

Superb tale of a planets demise to a hive fleet, told predominantly from the perspective of the tyrannies and their genestealer cult

[Christoff Youngman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written but the story is just 'the Tyranids turn up and immediately kill everyone, the end' which is just a little too simple for my tastes.

[Penny]

So far, it's horrible ... if you hate fungus and creepie-crawlers and monsters. If you enjoy the urge to throw up, this novella is bound to satisfy. Of course it's well-written, it's Tchaikovsky.

[Esoteric Anthropologist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Satisfying short story that gives a glimpse into the rare tyrranid perspective

[Patrick Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was honestly surprised how much I enjoyed this book. It gave a spin on seeing how a hive fleet sees us in its quest for consuming bio mass. If you are a fan of Warhammer 40K give this one a read.

[AA_Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m an unrepentant Tchaikovsky fan, so I was obviously predisposed to like this. Its impact for me was a little diminished by my reading it straight after Deathworlder, but I think when read in isolation it would stand up really well. He’s just a great writer and I’m aching for more 40k from him. I think it is also the first appearance of the Rogal Dorn tank in fiction, so there’s that too.

[Joseph Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is about as good as 40k gets. A collection of shorts set during a Tyranid invasion.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adrian Tchaikovsky pens a tale about the WH40K Tyrannids, capturing their relentless and brutal nature. Wish it was longer.

[Justin Salér · Rating 3 out of 5]

A worse variant of Day of Ascension.

[Robert Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent read .